Not Quite Zeus and Athena

Morning, Readers.

Today, I wanted to explain the meaning of the blog's title. Where to begin? It started about 3 years ago in a quiet corner of Oklahoma called Alva. When I arrived there as pastor, one of the things I noted was a hunger for the Catholic Faith. People were genuinely interested in the Faith and its practice but for many they had not had the opportunity to grow in the faith any further. So, I sat down and asked myself what to do. The initial instinct was "Go to the Catechism." While the Catechism seems big and green and scary, it is a comprehensive, reliable summary of the Faith. I am not one to encourage reading various and sundry spiritual luminaries if the essential elements of the Faith aren't in play. Still, I had a problem: once you go to the Catechism, how do you unlock it for folks?

This led to a reflection about how I myself learn anything. For me, and fortunately for other folks, the most effective learning strategy involves learning a little bit everyday. Cramming was never helpful in high school, college, or seminary. It just left me irritable. So, I thought to break the Catechism into digestable chunks, nothing more that 7 - 10 paragraphs a day. That way, the participant couldn't excuse themselves that this was too much or too hard. The next question was of course how long does this go on for? I reasoned that most parishes and small groups need to have breaks and need to have the chance to get on and off the bus as needs dictate. So, I reduce the program to four 10 week cycles. Yes, math wizards, that's 40 weeks which has many biblical overtones. But that wasn't the only thing this program was going to engage.

Theology without a spiritual life is merely interesting data. Prayer had to be an integral part of the design. For me, theology is done as much on one's knees as at one's desk. I recognized, too, that many Catholics of a certain generation (okay, mine) didn't know well the more traditional prayers and devotions of the Church. So that had to go in. Then there is the question of the Liturgy of the Hours, also known as the Divine Office. Many lay Catholics attempt to learn the office only to be hamstrung by the design of the breviary (the book containing the material for the office) amongst other things. Other efforts of mine flopped when it came to forming people to pray the office. So, that had to get in there somewhere. Happily, both made it in. Each week, participants are invited to pray two prayers from the Christian tradition as part of their time of study. At each weekly get together, when they are discussing the material they have a modified form of the Liturgy of the Hours, so that they can get a taste for what the office is like.

One more thing about the genesis of the book: my fellow priests. Priests by ordination are given a three fold mission in the Church. Priests are to teach, to govern, and to sanctify. More on that in a later post. In my experience, though, apart from RCIA, I don't have the time to research and prep notes and do all the stuff that goes into an effective class. I need ready made cirricula that just requires implementation. I knew that the book had to be user friendly for both priest and lay coordinator. So I added an answer guide to simplify what the answers were and how to guide the participants.

I told you all that to tell you this. Someone else had beaten me to the punch. Don't worry, though, you won't have to buy his book. St. Charles Borromeo at the time of the Council of Trent did the same thing just without a publisher. As I went to seminary in Philadelphia, a seminary dedicated to his patronage and memory, it is hardly surprising that his model and inspiration were at work in this work. Hence the name: The Borromeo Project.

So, readers, that's the origin of both titles. This blog covers the efforts to bring up Borromeo, or better said, to bring it into existence. Hopefully by this time next year we'll have something for you.